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A 

SERMON 


DELIVERED 




IN CONNECTION WITH THE ANNIVERSARY 


OF THE 

FOREIGN EVANGELICAL SOCIETY, 


IN THE REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, LAFAYETTE PLACE, NEW-YORK, 

ON SABBATH EVENING, MAY 7, 1843 ; 


AND SUBSEdUENTLY REPEATED, 

BY REQUEST OF SAID SOCIETY, 

IN ALBANY AND PHILADELPHIA. 


By WILLIAM B. SPRAGUE, D. D. 

MINISTER OF THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION IN ALBANY. 


NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY JOHN S. TAYLOR & CO. 
145 Nassau-Street. 


1843 






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HOPKINS & JENNINGS, PRINTERS, 

Sanlbcrsltp 33vess, 

No. Ill Fulton-Street, New-York. 


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TO THE 

REVEREND ROBERT BAIRD, D. D. 

THE CONSTANT, EARNEST, AND EFFICIENT 

FRIEND OF THE CAUSE, 


TO THE ADVOCACY OF WHICH THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE DEVOTED, 


2Ti)ts Bt scour sc 

IS INSCRIBED, 


WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF RESPECT AND GOOD WILL, BY 


HIS FRIEND AND BROTHER, 


W. B. S. 


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SERMON. 


ACTS XVI, 9. 

There stood a man of Macedonia , and frayed him , saying , Come over 
into Macedonia and help us. 

And who is this man of Macedonia — this mid- 
night visiter, who is interrupting the Apostle’s re- 
pose by calling upon him for labour ? Is it really 
a man with flesh and bones ? Or is it some 
divinely commissioned spirit-messenger ? Or is 
there some miraculous impression upon the mind 
of Paul, as if he saw the face, and heard the voice, 
of a man ? The record would seem to imply the 
latter ; for it is said that “ a vision appeared to 
Paul but all that is essential for us to know is, 
that it was some supernatural instrumentality by 
which God conveyed to the mind of his Apostle a 
knowledge of his will. Paul and his immediate 
associates had projected a missionary tour — first 
in one direction, and then in another ; but God in 
some way signified to them his disapprobation of 


6 


their purpose ; and while they were at Troas, 
undetermined whither they should direct their 
course, the Apostle, through the instrumentality 
referred to in our text, received an intimation of 
God’s will that they should go and labour in Mace- 
donia — a country into which Christianity had not 
hitherto been introduced. It was one of the in- 
habitants of this benighted region, that appeared 
to Paul in the vision, imploringly asking his aid ; 
as if he had said, — “ We are in circumstances 
of the greatest spiritual need — are sitting- in the 
darkness and shadow of death ; come over and 
help us : help us to that gospel which is the light 
of the world, and which has been committed to 
you for the benefit of the world : help us to the 
hopes which it inspires — to the consolations 
which it yields.” Paul, as he was wont to do, 
obeyed his Master’s will : he went into Macedo- 
nia, and the hand of the Lord was with him, 
working wonders of grace through his instrumen- 
tality. 

God speaks to his ministers and to his churches 
now, as truly as he did in the days of the Apos- 
tles ; and he speaks as intelligibly, and as authori- 


7 


tatively ; so that neither disobedience, nor igno- 
rance, nor even hesitation in any ordinary circum- 
stances, has the semblance of an apology. But 
instead of speaking to us in visions of the night, 
as he did to Paul, he speaks through the indica- 
tions of his providence, and the suggestions of 
his Word and Spirit ; and because these communi- 
cations are addressed to our intellects rather than 
our senses, we are in danger, either through lack 
of attention or from some wrong bias, of failing 
to comprehend their meaning, and thus practically 
shutting our ears against the voice of God. My 
design this evening is to endeavour to convince 
all before me who need to be convinced, that 
God’s voice is in the occasion on which we are 
assembled. No man of Macedonia communes 
with us in our slumbers ; but the Macedonian cry 
from over the wide waste of waters, comes to us 
in a note of deep and earnest expostulation. 
There are men in France, and Switzerland, and 
other parts of continental Europe, labouring in a 
glorious work, who are saying to you, and to me, 
and to the whole American church, “ Come over 
and help us.’* The fact that you are assembled 


8 


here this evening would seem to imply, at least 
that you regard their application as worthy to be 
considered. 

I. Let me then, with a view to enable you to 
judge correctly of its claims, direct your atten- 
tion, in the first place, to the nature or the 
work in which your co-operation is invited ; for 
no man feels prepared to help forward an enter- 
prise which he does not understand. 

1. My first remark is that it is an arduous 
work. 

This will appear whether we consider the 
character , or the number , of those whom it is 
intended to reach. 

Who are they whom this enterprise is designed 
to bring into the light and under the power of the 
glorious gospel ? 

They consist, as you all know, of Roman 
Catholics, and of nominal Protestants who, for 
the most part, while they profess a general belief 
in the gospel, reject or neutralize nearly all its 
fundamental truths. 

It must be obvious to every one who reflects 
upon the general tendencies of human nature, as 


9 


they have been developed in the whole history of 
the past, that there is nothing to which men natu- 
rally cling with more unyielding pertinacity than 
the religion — be it right or wrong — which they 
have inherited from their ancestors. Nor is this 
feature in the character of man difficult to be 
accounted for. A man’s religion is the most 
sacred of all his possessions ; for it is that upon 
which rest his hopes for eternity. The religion 
to which he is born, as it first gains possession 
of his mind, entrenches itself most deeply amidst 
his early associations ; and these associations re- 
main like a wall of fire round about it. You may 
assail men’s educational opinions on any other 
subject, and they will yield sooner than on this : 
here all that is sacred in religious hopes, all that 
is tender in filial recollections, all that is powerful 
in early instruction and example, arrays itself 
against you ; and hence we find that it is com- 
paratively a rare thing that men adopt a different 
system of religion from that to which they have 
been educated ; and even men of great minds not 
unfrequently remain in bondage all their lives to 
great errors, which they have inherited as a pa- 
2 


10 


rental legacy. And where the system in which 
an individual has been trained is a system of error, 
the difficulty of effecting a change is increased 
by the fact that men’s moral tastes are naturally 
perverted — that they love darkness rather than 
light. Let a man of corrupt moral habits, who 
has been educated to a belief of the great truths 
of religion, be summoned to a rejection of those 
truths, and though even lie will be likely to meet 
with opposition from the influence of conscience 
and of early associations, yet the desire to . escape 
self-contradiction — the inconvenience of holding 
a creed that stamps every action of his life with 
flagrant inconsistency, may render it a compara- 
tively easy matter for him to yield : but let a man 
whose heart is fully set in him to do evil, and who 
has been trained to a system of belief which is 
fitted to keep the conscience quiet in a course of 
sin — let him be called upon to renounce his self- 
justifying errors, and to receive God’s truth in all 
its alarming and humbling import; and you will 
find that the whole head and the whole heart, the 
prejudices of education and the strength of de- 
pravity, will be in rebellion against the effort. 


11 


When that man abjures his errors, and receives 
Christ, and becomes a practical disciple, there 
will be a triumph of God’s grace to be celebrated 
both on earth and in Heaven. 

Now let us consider, for a moment, the bearing 
of this general truth upon the two great classes 
which our enterprise contemplates. 

Look first at the condition of the Roman Cath- 
olics . Their system of belief is one which was 
held, not merely by their immediate parents, but 
by a long line of ancestry, extending from gene- 
ration to generation, and from age to age. It is a 
system which claims to be the only true system, 
insomuch that all who do not receive it, are re- 
garded as without any scriptural warrant to hope 
that they can be saved. It is a system wonder- 
fully accommodated to man’s corrupt propensities ; 
exciting the imagination by its gaudy and imposing 
ritual, and ministering to that self-righteous spirit 
which would dispute with God the glory of salva- 
tion, by prescribing a round of senseless ceremo- 
nies in place of the living faith and the contrite 
heart. It is a system, moreover, which is founded 
in ignorance ; which may be embraced and held 


12 


without the labour of thought ; and every one 
knows that, with the mass of men, labour is no 
luxury. And in addition to all this, so complete 
is the tyranny which this religion exercises in 
countries where it is established, that it is often at 
the peril of a man’s character, of his property, of 
his life, that he ventures to avow his rejection of 
it. We have some opportunity for observation 
on this subject here, where the system is modified 
and softened by a thousand nameless influences ; 
for even here, the Catholic who renounces the 
faith of his education, is not unfrequently hunted 
as a wild beast of the forest. What then must 
be true of those countries where no such modify- 
ing influences exist, and where there is both the 
will and the power to punish the heresy of Protes- 
tantism according to its supposed demerits ? 

As for the nominal Protestants whose benefit 
also this enterprise contemplates — we do not say 
that their prejudices in favour of the religious sys- 
tem they have adopted, are fortified by such a 
diversity of influences, as are the prejudices of the 
Roman Catholic; still it is by no feeble tenure 
that they hold their system; for it is the opiate 


13 


which enables them to slumber while their immor- 
tal interests are in jeopardy — the armour on 
which they rely in their conflicts with a wakeful 
conscience. They glory in their Protestantism, 
and they will even keep jubilees in honour of the 
Reformation ; while that which gives Protestant- 
ism its chief value — that to which the Reformers 
considered every thing else subordinate — the 
great doctrine of justification by faith in the Lord 
Jesus Christ, they reject as the dream of igno- 
rance or enthusiasm. Many of them are men of 
great talents, and great learning, and I may add, 
of great zeal in maintaining and propagating their 
views ; and they stand strongly committed to their 
defence before the world. We cannot doubt that 
they will struggle hard against any opposing sys- 
tem that may be presented to them, and especially 
a system that casts out from the whole economy 
of salvation the idea of personal merit. And 
what we should expect from the nature of the 
case, is found to be in accordance with facts ; in- 
somuch that a conversion from Rationalism to 
Evangelical religion, has often raised against the 
subject of it as bitter a persecution as if he had 


14 


passed from the Roman Catholic religion to Prot- 
estantism. 

To these two classes of which I have spoken 
as comprehended in the design of this enterprise, 
I might add a third, made up to a great extent of 
the other two — I mean the declared rejectors of 
Christianity . The system of Rationalism varies so 
little from proper Deism, especially in the great 
matter of human salvation, that there is hardly 
occasion for distinguishing between them ; and 
there are many who, while they avow their pref- 
erence for the former system, show at least that 
they have no controversy with the advocates of 
the latter. And that the more enlightened Catho- 
lics are generally infidels, is a fact which I believe 
nearly all who have had opportunity of making 
observations, are ready to attest. The influence 
of those master spirits of Atheism who were 
instrumental in combining the elements for the 
French Revolution, is still felt all over the con- 
tinent : there are Catholic infidels, and there are 
Protestant infidels, and there are infidels who 
belong to neither class, — operating through dif- 
ferent channels, and yet in an important sense 


15 


united, in their opposition to all that is great and 
holy in Christianity. But all these are subjects 
for a converting influence — all included within 
the legitimate field of our enterprise. 

Such is the character of the different classes 
in whose behalf we are called upon to labour ; and 
the object contemplated is to bring the gospel 
in contact with their understandings, their con- 
sciences, their affections, so that it may exert its 
renovating, saving influence. And now who will 
not say that this is a matter by no means easy to 
be accomplished ? Why how is it with our 
labours here , which are prosecuted under the 
highest advantages for success ? Here, where 
there are no hereditary prejudices against Evan- 
gelical Christianity to be grappled with, where 
infidelity is looked upon as hateful, and no man 
is regarded the worse but the better for being a 
Christian both in faith and in practice — even 
here, we sometimes laboifr through a series of 
years — labour in season and out of season, and 
yet have occasion to exclaim, “Who hath be- 
lieved our report ?” What then is to be expected 
there , where there are false systems to be over- 


16 


turned, the prejudices of centuries to be subdued, 
the current of popular feeling to be resisted, and 
men must become converts to the truth, if at all, 
at the expense of their most cherished earthly 
prospects ? If the soil that has been already 
broken and mellowed to our hands, seems some- 
times to remain long barren, notwithstanding our 
best efforts at cultivation, what shall be said of 
that soil which the labours of the spiritual hus- 
bandman have rarely penetrated, and which has 
been for centuries, to a great extent, uuvisited 
by the rains and sunshine of heavenly grace ? 

But the extent of the field to be occupied is 
another consideration that must enter into our 
estimate of the arduousness of this work. And 
on this point it is only necessary to say, that this 
field embraces all the countries of continental 
Europe, together with the Roman Catholic coun- 
tries in distant parts of our own continent. In 
the southern part oT Europe, including Italy, 
Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, a part of Swit- 
zerland, the South of Germany, and the empire 
of Austria, the Roman Catholic is the predomi- 
nant and almost exclusive religion. In the 


17 


northern part of Europe, including Holland, the 
northern half of Germany, Denmark, Sweden 
and Norway, and the vast empire of Russia, the 
great mass of the population is anti-Roman 
Catholic. The whole population of these several 
countries, together with that of the extensive 
regions inhabited by Roman Catholics on this 
side the ocean, cannot be less than a hundred 
and seventy-five millions : and yet all these are 
within the range of our enterprise. Take the 
map of the world and draw a line around those 
countries over which the darkness of Paganism 
and Mohamedism still broods, and then draw 
another that shall include the whole region that is 
cursed with a spurious Christianity, and you will 
perhaps be surprised at the proportion that the 
one bears to the other. You will see that it is 
no speck upon the globe that you are called to 
occupy by your benevolent labours ; and that it is 
in vain to hope that the work can be accomplished 
without an extensive, and energetic, and well 
directed, instrumentality. 

By both these considerations then — by the 
number as well as by the character of the subjects 
3 


18 


for this work, estimate the difficulty by which it 
must be attended, and the amount of effort essen- 
tial to its success. 

But I remark, 

2. That it is a most important work. 

Any work is important that has for its object 
the extension of the knowledge and influence of 
the gospel ; for the gospel brings glory to God in 
the Highest ; the gospel is the power of God unto 
salvation. But there are some aspects in which 
this work would seem specially important; and 
that, whether we consider its more immediate or 
more remote influence. 

In its more direct bearings, it is designed to ac- 
complish the spiritual regeneration of a large por- 
tion of the civilized world. In many of these 
countries, especially in France, Switzerland, 
Germany and Holland, civilization has attained 
to a vigorous maturity ; while true Christianity 
has been hated, resisted, and driven into exile. 
Now while the light that civilization diffuses over 
a country is in many respects favourable to the 
spiritual influence of the gospel, there are many 
of the benefits of civilization which Christianity 


19 


can advantageously appropriate in the extension 
of her triumphs. In the conversion of these 
civilized nations, will be included not only the 
sanctification of much that nature and culture have 
rendered praiseworthy and of good report — not 
only the consecration of a vast amount of learning 
and talent to the spiritual welfare of man, but the 
subserviency of the whole economy of society 
to this end : the labours of science, of philosophy, 
even of infidelity herself, in the cause of intellec- 
tual and social improvement, will thereby become 
a source of spiritual blessing, and be rendered 
tributary to the triumphs of the cross. 

But this work is designed to exert a more 
remote influence by aiding the general cause of 
the world’s renovation ; especially by removing 
obstacles, and supplying helps, to the foreign 
missionary enterprise. The spirit of Christianity 
is essentially a spirit of missions, because it is a 
spirit of benevolence ; and benevolence cannot 
survey the wide waste of Paganism and remain 
unmoved. It is not more certain, therefore, that 
the true religion will multiply its converts in these 
countries, than that it will increase the number 


20 


of those who will burn to see the wilderness bud 
and blossom as the rose ; of those who will not 
only give their property, and their influence, and 
their prayers, but themselves also, to the work of 
foreign missions. And this delightful effect has 
already begun to be realized; for France and 
Switzerland have for several years been repre- 
sented in the missionary work in some of the 
remotest and darkest parts of the earth. And 
there are countries in which their language, 
and habits, and general character, will secure 
to them advantages for the prosecution of their 
work, which English or American missionaries 
never could possess ; especially the advantage 
of national identity with the people among whom 
they labour. In the result of this effort’ we may 
expect that multitudes will hear the true gospel 
in their own language, and under circumstances 
best fitted to give it effect, who otherwise would 
live and go to their graves, in bondage to a most 
degrading superstition. 

But while one effect of this effort must be to 
multiply the number of foreign missionaries, and 
of those too who have special qualifications for 


21 


that service in particular parts of the field, another 
obvious effect will be to counteract certain unto- 
ward influences by which the success of the 
gospel among the heathen is prevented ; espe- 
cially that which is exerted by the vices and 
crimes of nominal Christians. It is a maxim 
which fell from the lips of Him who spake as 
never man spake, that “ the tree is known by its 
fruit and hence we find that men, all over the 
world, judge of the value of any religious system 
by its practical effects ; and if those who profess 
to be its advocates are treacherous, and profligate, 
and debased, it is hardly possible but that their 
vices will be put to the account of their religion. 
Now #hat sort of a tepresentation of Christi- 
anity have the heathen generally had in the lives 
of those who have sojourned among them, 
bearing the Christian name ? Has it been a 
bright and steady exhibition of whatsoever things 
are honest, and just, and true, and lovely, and of 
good report ; or has it not rather been the very 
opposite of this — an exhibition protracted from 
age to age, of the very worst features in the 
character of man? Is the Pagan called upon to 


22 


give up the vices of Paganism and practise the 
virtues of Christianity — he contemptuously re- 
plies, “ Show us the virtues of Christianity, that 
thus we may be assured of their reality before we 
undertake to practise them.” Or is he reasoned 
with in regard to the superstitious and idolatrous 
rites belonging to his religion — still he has the 
reply at hand, that if Paganism is superstitious 
and idolatrous, so also is Christianity ; and from 
what he has seen of Christianity, no wonder that 
this should be his reply. Now do you not see 
that it is only necessary that the power of the 
gospel should be generally felt in Roman Catholic 
countries, to effect the removal of this greatest 
of all obstacles to the success of foreijh mis- 
sions? Let professed Christians who go among 
the heathen, whether as visiters or as permanent 
residents, whether for acquiring property or 
gaining knowledge — let them habitually show 
forth the spirit and power of Christianity, by 
practising the virtues of temperance, justice, truth, 
and charity, and at no distant period we shall see 
an influence exerted, before wdiich the multiform 
abominations of Paganism will be passing away 


23 


like a morning cloud. I repeat — so long as 
Christianity is represented in those countries by 
idolatry, and treachery, and every species of 
crime, wonder not if, while the missionary lifts 
up his voice, the poor Pagan derides his mes- 
sage ; if the call to come to the great Physician 
and be healed, is met with the scornful retort, 
“Physician, heal thyself.” 

Who now will question the importance of this 
work ? Is it not important that the renovating 
and saving power of the gospel should be felt by 
those vast nations, the mass of whom — civilized 
though they are — are as deep in moral dark- 
ness, and as dead in trespasses and sins, as the 
Pagans themselves ? Is it not important that 
cultivated talent should be brought to do homage 
at the cross ; that learning should come back to 
her place as the handmaid of truth and piety ? Is 
it not important that the obstacles to the success 
of foreign missions should be removed on the one 
hand, and that new and noble helps to that cause 
should be supplied on the other ? Then is this 
work to which we are summoned, important ; for 
each of these objects is involved in its success. 


3. It is a sublime work. 

It is sublime in common with every other de- 
partment of the missionary enterprise ; sublime, 
as involving the accomplishment of the purposes 
of infinite love; as looking to eternity and to 
Heaven for its ultimate and most glorious results ; 
as exemplifying the power and glory of that gospel 
for whose extension and triumph it is engaged. 
But the sublimity to which I here refer is that 
which grows out of its peculiar associations. 
There are circumstances in the history of those 
countries which it more immediately contem- 
plates, and especially in the history of France, 
which are fitted to elevate our views and feelings 
in the contemplation of it. 

France was among the earliest countries to feel 
the life-giving influence of Christianity . Within a 
brief period after the Saviour ascended to Heaven, 
France heard the gospel which he had left with 
his disciples, and received large measures of his 
promised Spirit, and numbered a great multitude 
of converts to his religion. God’s truth was 
proclaimed in her temples ; and the services were 
simple and scriptural ; and the sacrifice of a bro- 


25 


ken heart was all that was asked for. But that 
bright day was quickly succeeded by a night of 
ages — a night so dark and dismal that when the 
Watchman asked, “What of the night ?” — the 
answer was, “ Impenetrable darkness, to endure, 
for aught that appears, forever !” Now is there 
not something sublime in the enterprise which 
would re-establish the gospel in that country 
where pure Christianity so early had a lodgment ? 
Must it not kindle a lofty fervour in the bosom 
even of the humblest colporteur who goes about 
the country distributing the Word of Life, and 
talking of Christ and his salvation, to reflect 
that the ground which he treads was trodden by 
Apostles ; and that his enterprise is substantially 
the same which occupied them? Must he not 
feel as if the glorified Paul were looking down 
upon him ; as if Paul’s voice from the third Heav- 
ens were cheering him on, and bidding him never 
falter in his work, till the green fields around him 
shall become an apt emblem of that spiritual ver- 
dure with which his country shall be clothed. 

France has been drenched with the blood of the 
saints . For centuries she stood forth to the 

4 


26 


world with the instruments of cruelty in her 
hands, and the purpose of murder in her heart, 
against all who dared to show themselves the 
faithful followers of Christ. And they must not 
merely die, but death must be a protracted scene 
of torture, as if to furnish to the eyes of incar- 
nate demons a perpetual feast. Pagan Rome first 
poured out her vials of fury upon France ; and 
then came Papal Rome, baptized still more deeply 
into the cruelties of hell ; and age after age she 
kept an ocean of blood flowing around her ; and 
if there seemed at any time to be a temporary 
respite, it w^as only the harbinger of a more terri- 
ble destruction. The deep recesses of the forest, 
the fastnesses in the rocks, the dens and caves 
which wild beasts inhabit, were all put in requisi- 
tion by the faithful : and even here there was 
not security ; for persecution would sometimes 
reach into the deepest hiding places, and drag 
out thence her subjects for martyrdom. Here 
again I ask, is there not something sublime in 
prophesying over such a valley of vision ? Go 
forth, and proclaim the gospel there, if you can, 
without finding yourself the subject of an eleva- 


27 


ting impulse from the reflection that where you 
stand and preach, a noble army of martyrs fell. 
See if your imagination does not recognise in the 
very breeze that refreshes you, dying groans, as 
if from the ashes upon which you tread ; — songs 
of victory, as if from the martyr spirits who 
look down upon you from their thrones. Oh, it 
is a sublime office to preach the gospel any 
where ; but especially so, among the graves of 
those who have rendered their blood as a testi- 
mony to its truth and power. 

France witnessed the Reformation in its early 
dawn , and was the theatre of some of its most 
glorious triumphs. Many of the brighter lights of 
that eventful period, such as Calvin, and Farel, 
and Beza, were among her sons. Ages have 
passed away since they went to their rest ; and 
the great truths which they proclaimed have long 
since become a by-word and hissing among the 
people. It would seem that God in his mysterious 
sovereignty, not only suffered the Reformation in 
France to be prematurely arrested, but suffered 
the darkness to return where the true light had 
begun to shine. And is there not something 


28 


inspiring in the thought of carrying forward the 
Reformation on the very spot where it was begun ; 
of entering into the labours of the great Reformers 
themselves ; of proclaiming God’s message where 
the baptism of the Spirit and the baptism of 
blood were once so strangely and terribly com- 
mingled ? From the bottom of my heart I sym- 
pathize with those devoted and self-denied men 
who, at the greatest worldly sacrifices, are labour- 
ing to re-kindle the spirit of Reformation in 
France ; but I own that there is that connected 
with their enterprise which I cannot but covet. 
The field of their labours is consecrated ground. 
The most illustrious of the saints have stood 
upon it and preached the unsearchable riches of 
Christ ; and now they slumber beneath it, await- 
ing the glorious resurrection day. Must not faith 
become more vigorous, and prayer more earnest, 
and zeal more fervent, amid these august and 
hallowed associations ? 

France has been swept and scathed hy a burning 
tempest of Atheism . Other nations have changed 
the glory of the incorruptible God into images 
made like to corruptible men, and four-footed 


29 


beasts, and creeping things : but it was reserved 
for France formally to decree the banishment of 
Jehovah from his own world ; to vote him down 
by impious and frenzied acclamation from his 
throne in the Heavens. The preparation for that 
tremendous issue was not the thing of a day : the 
leaven of Atheism had been working for nearly 
a century, before it had diffused itself through 
the whole lump. Voltaire had done his work, 
and gone to his account ; and Rousseau had done 
his ; and Diderot and D’Alambert, and a host of 
others, had done theirs : they went to their own 
place before the harvest for which they had sown 
was quite ready for the reapers. But the day came 
at length ; and it was Atheism and blood, Athe- 
ism and blood, from one end of the land even to 
the other. That scene of horrour, the very recital 
of which will make the ears of all coming gene- 
rations tingle, ere long passed away ; but not so 
the consequences which it drew after it. France 
had indeed professedly restored Jehovah to his 
throne ; but the poison of Atheism had mingled 
itself with her very heart’s blood ; and that poi- 
son continues to work with malignant activity to 


30 


this hour. Now is there not something sublime 
in the idea of administering an efficacious remedy 
to that great nation, whose whole head has be- 
come sick, and whose whole heart faint, through 
the influence of an infidel philosophy ? Can the 
triumphs of the cross ever be more glorious than 
on that ground where the cross has been publicly 
reviled as the symbol of imposture ? If Voltaire 
and his coadjutors are all gone to their graves, 
they still live and speak in the blasphemous pro- 
ductions which they have left behind them; and 
thus, in the most important sense, they are yet 
here, to be encountered by the friends of the gos- 
pel ; and blessed are they who are permitted to 
see these giants of the empire of darkness fall 
at their feet. Oh, is not that a glorious conflict 
in which the very princes of Atheism, who could 
not be vanquished while living, are vanquished 
after they are dead ? 

What has been said may suffice to illustrate the 
sublimity of this work : I only add, 

4. In the fourth place, that it is a most hopeful 
work : in other wrnrds, it is attended with the best 
prospect of success. This will appear, whether 


31 


we consider the door that has been opened, the 
instrumentality that has been devised, or the 
good that has been accomplished. 

You all know that within a comparatively brief 
period the several countries which the design of 
our enterprise includes, were utterly inaccessible 
to all benevolent effort from abroad ; and though 
Christian compassion may have contemplated 
them with a weeping eye and a bleeding heart, 
yet they would not permit her to reach forth to 
them a helping hand. Compare the present with 
the past, in respect to France. Napoleon — ter- 
rible usurper though he was — in some respects 
devised liberal things. He restored Christianity 
to the nation, after years of ignominious exile had 
been decreed to her; and though a Romanist 
himself, he placed Romanism and Protestantism 
on the same level. But Protestantism then was 
a mere mass of dry bones, upon which the breath 
from Heaven had not fallen ; and this, together 
with the perpetual commotion that was incident 
to Napoleon’s whole career, neutralized the effect 
of that toleration which he granted, at least in 
reference to the spiritual improvement of the 


32 


nation. Napoleon’s two immediate successors 
upon the throne showed little favour to Protest- 
antism ; and every effort that was made for the 
promotion of a pure Christianity was watched 
with a jealous eye. But the Revolution of 1830, 
which gave to France her present enlightened 
monarch, gave her also the blessing of religious 
liberty. That Revolution removed the previously 
existing restraints upon freedom of opinion and 
freedom of action ; and converted all the pores of 
society into so many channels for a reforming, 
evangelical influence. And now it has come to 
pass that even in France, evangelical Christians 
may not only enjoy their own religion without the 
danger of oppression from the government, but 
may go abroad through the whole length and 
breadth of the land, circulating in open daylight 
the Word of Life, and calling upon sinners with- 
out distinction to be reconciled to God. 

And what is true of France, in this respect, is 
true, in a greater or less degree, of most or all 
the other countries which this work contemplates. 
But a little while since, each of these countries 
had an iron door that was locked and barred 


33 


against all evangelical influence from without; 
and if any Christian assayed to do the work of 
the Lord on this forbidden ground, he knew well 
that he did it at the hazard of a martyr’s death. 
There were dungeons there forming the very 
anti-chamber of hell, into which such persons 
were liable to be thrown ; there were engines of 
torture there, befitting only the prison of despair, 
to which they were liable to be brought; and 
human wisdom could not discover by what means 
a different economy was to be introduced. But 
God in his providence has done what man in his 
weakness could not do, and in his blindness could 
not anticipate. The spirit of civil and religious 
liberty is beginning to pervade the nations like a 
universal element. Belgium, which has been one 
of the strong-holds of Papal influence, is now 
as open to evangelical efforts as France. Spain 
and Portugal also are beginning to relax ; and so 
is Poland, and the Island of St. Domingo, and 
parts of South America, and even Italy. Austria 
alone, if indeed we must except her, is as bigotted 
to her errors, and as intolerant toward the truth, 
as ever. These countries are not indeed all 
5 


34 


equally accessible to an evangelical influence : 
but they are all so in a greater or less degree ; 
and they are becoming more and more so every 
year ; and every thing indicates that the facilities 
are destined to increase, as the means of spiritual 
blessing are applied. 

Besides — a system of vigorous instrumentality 
for the accomplishment of this work has already 
been put in operation. A little while since the 
whole work was to be done, but how, or by whom, 
no mortal could tell ; for the spirit of wisdom and 
activity in regard to this field had not yet begun 
to be poured forth. But now France and Switz- 
erland — to say nothing of other countries — have 
their Bible, and Missionary, and Tract Societies, 
their Sabbath Schools, and their Theological 
Seminaries, and indeed an evangelical instrumen- 
tality corresponding in nearly every part with that 
which we are accustomed to reckon as among the 
brightest of the glories of our own land. And in 
addition to this, they have their system of colpor - 
tage — an instrumentality which they originated, or 
rather inherited from their ancestors who lived in 
the Reformation, and which we are borrowing 


35 


from them, designed to bring the gospel in more 
immediate contact with individuals, and to break 
up the fallow ground in preparation for the higher 
labours of a spiritual husbandry. All these means 
have been actually devised and put in operation ; 
and let their operation be continued and increased, 
in connection with such other means as the spirit 
of benevolence already awake, will originate, and 
the work ere long will be done. It was indeed 
certain that it would be accomplished before it 
was commenced — for the mouth of the Lord had 
spoken it; but the visible tokens of its accom- 
plishment have increased as the actual instrumen- 
talities have extended. 

But we need not limit ourselves to the means that 
have been put in operation, in our estimate of the 
prospects of this work : we may point with grate- 
ful triumph to the success by which they have al- 
ready been attended. What a mighty change has 
been effected in the Christian ministry! Less 
than thirty years ago, it was estimated that there 
were not more than three or four ministers be- 
longing to the two National Protestant churches 
in France, who either preached or received the 


36 


gospel in its purity ; whereas now this number is 
increased to about two hundred, making nearly 
one third part of the whole. And in addition to 
these, there are about sixty who are not dependent 
on the state for support, nearly half of whom are 
connected with the Wesleyan Missionary Society. 
And a corresponding change has taken place in 
regard to the circulation of the Bible. It is but a 
few years since that a long-continued and diligent 
search for the Sacred Scriptures in Paris, resulted 
in the finding of but a single copy ; whereas now 
at least two millions of copies have been put in 
circulation within the limits of the empire; — a 
small number indeed compared with the popula- 
tion that need the Bible, but a great number, con- 
sidered in reference to the brief period in which 
the work has been accomplished. And there is, 
as might be expected, a proportional increase in 
the number of devout Christians on every side : 
the circulation of the Bible, the humble exposi- 
tions of the colporteurs, as well as the efforts of 
missionaries and of stated evangelical pastors, are 
together diffusing a goodly savour over the land. 
Blessed be God, the sepulchre in which Chris- 


37 


tianity had lain for ages has been thrown open ; 
and that voice which penetrates even the ear of 
death, has sounded forth the mandate, “ Chris- 
tianity, come forth and having cast off her 
grave-clothes she has come forth, with a life-giving 
smile upon her countenance, and the blessings of 
salvation in her hand ; and France, bloody, athe- 
istical France, is already beginning to welcome 
her reign. 

II. Having considered thus at length the na- 
ture of the work to which we are called, we may 
next inquire from whom the call comes ; for 
before we render our aid, we naturally wish to 
know who they are that solicit it. Who are they 
then, that are bidding us come over to their help ? 

We might consider this as the voice of the mul- 
titude who are sunk in ignorance and degradation, 
and who need to become the subjects of an en- 
lightening and purifying influence; for uncon- 
scious as they are of what they need, and reluc- 
tant even as they may be to receive it when offered 
them, their necessities still have a voice ; just as 
the wandering maniac would, by his wretchedness, 


38 


appeal to your sympathy and your charity, even 
though, in his frenzy, he might lift a weapon of 
death against you. But, on the present occasion, 
I shall consider this rather as the voice of our 
brethren abroad, especially in France and Switz- 
erland, who are directly engaged in prosecuting 
the work which we have been contemplating. 
They earnestly and imploringly ask our aid in be- 
half of their hallowed enterprise. 

In answer to the inquiry then, Who they are — 
I would say, first of all, they are a company of 
Christian disciples , redeemed by the same blood, 
and sanctified by the same grace, to which we 
owe our salvation. They are all bound together 
by their regard to a common Saviour, and their 
interest in a common cause. True, they speak a 
different language from ours, but they have the 
same hopes, and joys, and conflicts, and aspirations 
that we have ; and when they and we shall speak 
with celestial tongues, we shall all have a common 
language, and shall join in the same new and no- 
ble song unto Him that hath made us kings and 
priests unto God. They belong to different na- 
tions from us; and yet they are in the highest 


39 


sense our brethren; for they and we have the 
same heavenly birth, and are travelling toward the 
same glorious home. 

They are a little company. They make no dis- 
play either of numbers or of means ; for they are 
both few and poor. Especially are they so, con- 
sidered in reference to the immense multitude up- 
on whom they are to operate, and the magnitude 
of the work in which they are engaged. If it 
were an arm of flesh upon which they were to de- 
pend — if there were no divine promise and no 
Holy Spirit pledged for their success, we should 
confidently expect, labouring as they do at such 
fearful odds, that their enterprise would soon be 
reckoned among the things that have been. The 
record of their success will be the history of “ one 
chasing a thousand, and two putting ten thousand 
to flight.” 

They are a self-denied and devoted company. 
Some of us, and especially our respected brother* 
who has sojourned among them as our representa- 
tive and almoner, are familiar with many of them ; 
and all, I believe, are ready to testify that they 
have never mingled in more fervent devotions, 


* Rev. Dr. Baird. 


40 


never witnessed stronger faith in the promise of 
God, or more of the simplicity and beauty of Chris- 
tian character, than in the intercourse which they 
have enjoyed with these faithful brethren. And 
their piety is distinguished for nothing, more than 
a self-sacrificing spirit. They are not the persons 
to call upon these fellow Christians abroad for 
help, while they make no sacrifices themselves for 
the cause in which they are engaged : on the con- 
trary, they cheerfully forego many worldly con- 
veniences and comforts for the sake of that cause ; 
and they evince a spirit which shows that they 
would not even count their lives dear to them, if 
its ultimate success should demand such a sacri- 
fice. Why there are men enlisted for this object, 
who, if they had taken counsel of flesh and blood 
to devote themselves to some worldly pursuit, 
might have spent their lives in the highest degree 
of affluence and honour ; but there were no earthly 
prospects, however attractive, that could detain 
them from this chosen field: they counted all 
things but loss for the honour of their Master and 
the advancement of his cause. 

And this leads me to say, that they are a well - 


41 


trained and enlightened company. Of course I do 
not mean to say that all our foreign brethren who 
are labouring in this cause are highly educated 
men ; but I mean that intelligence, and a high de- 
gree of intelligence, is concerned in giving direc- 
tion to the enterprise. And more than that — I 
mean that there are in that little company some of 
the brightest intellectual ornaments of the age ; 
and as they cannot hear me across the ocean, I 
may speak the names of some of them. There is 
Merle D’Aubigne, whose work on the Reformation 
has already proved itself a work for the world, and 
has thrown an enduring halo around his name. 
There is Gaussen, who has lifted a strong voice 
in favour of the inspiration of the Bible, in a work 
which, if Infidelity could blush, would turn her 
brazen face to crimson. There is Monod, a pro- 
fessor in one of their theological seminaries, and 
one of the best writers, and finest scholars, and 
most eloquent preachers, of the day. And there 
is another Monod, whose talents have placed him 
over the most influential Protestant congregation 
in Paris. And there are others whose names I 
cannot mention, whose intellectual endowments 
6 


42 


would reflect honour upon any country that could 
claim them; upon any enterprise to which they 
should be devoted. Here is our security against 
being misled by ignorance or fanaticism. Such 
men as I have enumerated are no comets in the 
intellectual hemisphere : they are not the men to 
brood over Utopian schemes, or to engage in wild 
and hopeless enterprises. With great energy they 
combine great wisdom and caution ; and what they 
have done in the past, is a pledge that we need 
have no fear as to what they will do in the future. 

Last of all, they are the representatives of the 
church . And has not the church a right to be 
heard by her sons and daughters, when she ap- 
peals to them in behalf of her own enlargement ? 
Has she not a right to tell the story of her con- 
flicts and her wrongs, and to ask that the injuries 
of the past may be retrieved, and light and glory 
poured upon her onward course ? Nay, they rep- 
resent the Head of the church, from whose lips 
will hereafter fall the grateful benediction, 44 Inas- 
much as ye have done it unto one of the least of 
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me and 
has not Jesus a right to require the healing of 


43 


those wounds which he has received in the house 
of his friends ? They speak in the name of the 
Sanctifier of the church ; and has this adorable 
Agent no claim to be heard by those on whom he 
has enstamped the divine image as an earnest of 
the heavenly inheritance ? To reject their appli- 
cation then, is to dishonour not merely that little 
flock to which it is the Father’s good pleasure to 
give the kingdom, but that good Shepherd who 
laid down his life for them, and that gracious' 
Spirit who is pledged to bring them safely home. 
If we have no ear for the voice of Zion or of 
Zion’s King, will not our very baptism testify 
against us ; and can we marvel if we should be 
charged with having come to think lightly of aton- 
ing blood, and renewing grace, and mediatorial 
glory? 

Such is the character, such are the circum- 
stances, of those who are calling upon us to help 
them. 

III. There is yet a third inquiry to be an- 
swered — viz., What kind of help is it which 
they ask of us ? for we are not prepared to meet 


44 


their wishes, without a knowledge of what their 
wishes are. 

I remark, then, in the first place, that they do 
not ask us to come in person to their aid. In the 
Foreign Missionary enterprise, this sacrifice on 
the part of many seems essential to be made : 
inasmuch as the native inhabitants of those coun- 
tries are all ignorant of the W ay of Life and sunk 
in moral degradation, it is necessary that, for a 
time at least, the natives of Christian countries 
should sojourn among them, in order to proclaim 
the truths, to establish the authority, and to ex- 
emplify the spirit, of the gospel. But not so with 
the countries that are now passing under our eye. 
Here are native preachers already in the field, 
and gradually becoming scattered over every part 
of it ; so that every man can hear the gospel not 
only in his own tongue, but without being tortured 
by a foreign accent. If there was wisdom in that 
divine ordinance that men should hear the gospel 
from the lips of their fellow-men, rather than 
from a higher order of beings, so also is there 
wisdom in that feature of the economy of the 
church which throws the work of evangelizing 


45 


the nations, so far as possible, upon native preach- 
ers rather than upon foreigners. Our brethren in 
whose behalf we are speaking, though their arms 
are always open to receive us as visiters, do not 
even ask us to share directly in their labours. 
They seek no help from us but that which we 
may render in consistency with our staying at 
home, and enjoying all the privileges which fall 
to our lot, both as American citizens and Ameri- 
can Christians. What, then, do they ask of us ? 

First of all, they ask for our sympathy . You 
know how grateful sympathy is under almost any 
circumstances, especially in connection with the 
responsibilities of an arduous and momentous 
enterprise ; — how it makes one strong both to 
labour and to endure, to know that there are other 
hearts beating in unison with his own, and deeply 
caring for the success of his efforts. These dis- 
tant brethren, as we have seen, are engaged in a 
great work ; and they are labouring, single-hand- 
ed, in the face of a mighty opposition ; with 
much indeed to encourage them on the one hand, 
but with much to put their faith and patience to a 
severe trial on the other. In these circumstances 


46 


they appeal to us as brethren for our sympathy. 
They ask us, when we think of our own favoured 
condition, sometimes to remember them . They 
send us the unostentatious record of their labours, 
and trials, and triumphs, and they expect us to 
bear a part both in their sorrow and their joy. 
And it quickens them to a higher and holier 
impulse to reflect that their cause is the cause 
of a multitude on this side the ocean, whom they 
will never see till they meet them beyond the 
vail. 

They ask for our prayers. They have 
learned not only from God’s Word, but from 
their own experience — from their experience as 
connected not only with their own personal 
growth in grace, but with this very work to which 
they have given themselves — they have learned 
the importance of a simple dependance on God’s 
Holy Spirit. They know the connection between 
asking and receiving, and they send to us to 
enlist our fervent intercessions in their behalf. 
They implore us to give God thanks for the suc- 
cess that has already attended their labours, and 
to supplicate for them continually increasing 


47 


measures of blessing in the progress of their 
work. They ask us to commend their cause to 
the God of the sanctuary, to the God of the 
family, to the God who seeth in secret. And no 
doubt they watch for the answer to our prayers, 
in a richer effusion of influence from on high. 

And last of all, they ask of us pecuniary aid . 
We know by experience that the prosecution of 
an extended missionary effort requires large funds. 
And as it is here, so it is every where : the gos- 
pel cannot be extended over a continent, or even 
through a single nation, but at vast expense. 
Look at the system of benevolent effort which 
our brethren have already put in operation, and 
see whether that system is to be sustained, espe- 
cially whether it is to be extended to meet the 
exigency of the case, without liberal contributions 
from abroad. How are they to sustain their 
colporteurs and other missionaries, who go 
about the land dispensing the Word of Life, 
without funds ? How are their theological 
schools — those fountains in the desert — to 
pour forth their healthful and gladdening influ- 
ences, without funds ? How will their Bible 


48 


Societies, and Tract Societies, and other kindred 
institutions designed to aid the great cause of 
moral renovation, live, without funds ? And how 
will the fountains of their literature ever be 
healed, how will the taste for solid and profitable 
reading ever be established, without funds ? In 
their poverty they ask us to help them. Yes, in 
their poverty — for they are poor, though they 
are surrounded with splendour and affluence. 
There are multitudes around them who are able to 
contribute all that they need ; but what signifies 
the ability without the will ? That very wealth, 
instead of being bestowed in aid of their object, 
is perverted to oppose obstacles to its success. 
They ask us to contribute, because the glorious 
work urges itself upon them, and they cannot 
consent to see it stand still. They ask us modest- 
ly, but yet importunately, and as becometh those 
who feel that the Lord is on their side, 44 Come 
over and help us, come over and help us do this 
work of the Lord ; and what ye give shall be 
given back to you in the day of recompense a 
hundred fold.” 

Such is the help that our brethren from afar 


49 


ask of us — our sympathy, our prayers, our pecu- 
niary aid. 

Thus I have endeavoured to answer the several 
inquiries, which the text, as connected with the 
occasion, suggests. But before you render your 
final response to this application of our friends, 
I propose to you to review, for a moment, the 
ground over which we have come, and see wheth- 
er the claim which the occasion makes upon your 
charity, does not become clearer and stronger at 
every step. 

What say you, then, of the motive that is sug- 
gested by the nature of the work ? If it is an ar- 
duous work — arduous by reason of the number 
as well as the character of those whom it is to 
reach, is it not fitting that you should lend your 
aid, where your aid is so much needed ? If it is 
a momentously important work — important in its 
more remote as well as more immediate bearings, 
should you not extend to it a helping hand, on the 
ground that your influence for good will circulate 
through innumerable channels, and will tell with 
mighty power on the great cause of the world’s 
renovation ? If it is emphatically a sublime work 
7 


50 


— sublime from the great and holy, and even ter- 
rible associations with which it is surrounded — 
shall not this consideration also impart to you a 
fresh impulse, and will not your prayers grow 
warmer and your gifts larger, as you traverse in 
imagination the ground where Reformers preached 
and martyrs bled ? If it is a work full of promise 
and hope — if the obstacles that formerly opposed 
it are now taken or being taken out of the way — 
if God in his providence is admonishing us that the 
fields are growing white for the harvest — will not 
your zeal in this cause mount up into a holy en- 
thusiasm ; and will you not help it with the more 
alacrity, as you have constantly accumulating evi- 
dence that it finds favour in the sight of the Lord ? 

Next, what think you of the motive suggested 
by the character and circumstances of those who 
solicit your aid ? They are your fellow disciples, 

— baptized into the same adorable name, subjects 
of the same redemption, heirs of the same inher- 
itance with yourselves ; they and you are mem- 
bers of that community, the motto, the law, the 
bond, of which is charity ; and unless you can 
show that the ocean was made to extinguish the 


51 


sympathies of Christians on one side of it toward 
Christians on the other, are you not under sacred 
obligations to minister to their aid ? They are few 
in number and feeble in resources, while yet they 
are full of faith and zeal, and are ready to make 
the greatest sacrifices in the prosecution of their 
work. You cannot find it in your hearts to leave 
such men to labour without lending them a help- 
ing hand. Whatever you might say to the 
strong, I am sure you have too much of the gene- 
rosity of Christianity, thus to put off the weak ; 
especially the weak w r ho decline no service that 
they can perform, no sacrifice that they can make. 
And the master spirits of this enterprise are great 
and noble spirits — men who are capable of giv- 
ing it a wise direction and conducting it to the 
best results ; so that, instead of being discouraged 
by the apprehension that your charities may be 
misapplied, you may feel a full assurance that 
they will be turned to the best account. And 
finally, these men represent the church which 
Jesus Christ has purchased with his blood ; nay, 
it is the Redeemer’s own voice that is lifted up in 
their necessities and their requests ; and who of 


52 


us — disciples as we profess to be — will turn away 
from him that speaketh from Heaven ? Oh it is a 
goodly fellowship to which this enterprise intro- 
duces us ! Glorious, inspiring, is the thought, 
that while we fulfil the law of love, while we 
honour the Saviour who died for us, we are asso- 
ciated with the greatest and best of men in the 
greatest and best of causes. 

And the aid which they ask of you — how rea- 
sonable, how practicable is it ! No sundering of 
the ties of family and of country to go to the 
ends of the earth; no yielding up of the comforts 
of civilized life to encounter the privations and 
abominations of Paganism ; no resort to a sickly 
climate — no exposure to a violent death : — they 
ask not this of you ; but they ask your sympathy ; 
and if you have Christian hearts, you cannot but 
feel for them. They ask your prayers — your be- 
lieving, earnest, effectual prayers ; and deny them 
this request, you cannot. They ask your pecu- 
niary aid ; and if you should decline giving any 
thing out of your abundance, wonder not if the 
question should somewhere be asked, “How 
dwelleth the love of God in you ?” They ask of 


53 


you nothing which you cannot bestow without any 
permanent inconvenience to yourselves or your 
families ; nothing, the bestowment of which will 
not make you better and happier, and have in it 
the elements of a blessing to those who come 
after you. 

And now, in view of all these considerations, 
what answer shall I make in your behalf to the 
voice that comes to you to night from our breth- 
ren across the ocean, saying, 44 Come over and 
help us ?” Shall I tell them that France is full of 
silver and gold, and abundantly able to evangelize 
herself, without soliciting contributions, like a pau- 
per or a beggar, from abroad ? I hear you say, 
44 No.” Shall I tell them that our own great coun- 
try is urging its claims upon us ; that the implor- 
ing voice of the West is heard in all our borders ; 
and that the cause of foreign missions languishes 
because we have not the means of sustaining it ? 
Again I hear you say, 44 No.” Shall I say to them 
that our resources are so miserably reduced that 
we are unable to help them as in other days ; 
and as we cannot do the thing that we would, 
therefore they must cease to expect any further 


54 


aid from us, at least till the revival of our coun- 
try’s prosperity ? 44 No, no, no,” I hear you an- 

swer yet again. And what then shall be your re- 
sponse ? 44 Tell them,” I think I hear you say, 

44 tell them that we do not forget them in the fee- 
bleness of their means and the greatness of their 
work ; and that the sympathising heart, and the 
bended knee, and the open hand, shall be our wit- 
ness that we do not forget them. Tell them that 
when they appeal to our charity, we recognise a 
prior claim upon our justice ; for the very vine 
and fig tree under which we sit was purchased 
partly by the blood of France. Tell them that 
our American church has just received a fresh 
baptism from the Holy Ghost ; and that while we 
would testify our gratitude by our gifts, we expect 
many new associates in helping forward this glo- 
rious work. Tell them to keep up their faith, 
and their courage, and their zeal, and never to 
doubt that that ground which has received the 
seed of the truth steeped in the blood of the mar- 
tyrs, will one day bring forth plentifully; and 
that if that day should not come until they and 
we have ceased to labour upon earth, it will come 


55 


soon enough to permit us to celebrate the harves t 
by a jubilee in Heaven.” Do you say that this 
is the message that you will send them ? Let 
this then be the message, and let it go, conse- 
crated by the prayers, and fragrant with the 
offerings of the evening. 


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